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Risk to sports at new stadium

The Barnett Government has refused to guarantee football and cricket that they will be no worse off financially by moving to the new $1.4 billion Burswood stadium.

With the Government in sensitive negotiations with the Fremantle Dockers, West Coast Eagles and WA Cricket Association about terms for using the stadium, Treasury’s top official in charge of the project admitted yesterday that the Government had made no promises the codes would be better off.

Under questioning by Labor’s Ken Travers, Treasury strategic projects executive director Richard Mann said that the Government would “have regard” for the codes’ existing revenue arrangements at Domain Stadium in Subiaco and the WACA Ground.

“The Government has made no commitment that the sporting codes would be better off,” he said.

“That said, the Government has made a very firm commitment that the sporting codes will be sustainable and successful.

“It is certainly our intention and desire that they will be better off. Better off is more than just financial.

“There are benefits for the sports from moving away from a very ageing and substandard facility that Subiaco is now.”

Fremantle, West Coast, the WACA and the WA Football Commission all declined to comment.

The AFL clubs are the new stadium’s most important prospective tenants and it is not yet set in stone that they will move when the stadium is ready for the 2018 AFL season.

While it is considered extremely unlikely that football would refuse to move when the stadium is ready, it remains a live option and is a source of leverage in negotiations.

The WACA has delegated a future development committee to examine all options for where cricket might be played beyond 2018.

A report is expected to go to the WACA board at the end of this month.

Mr Mann said the Government believed there would be enough revenue generated at the new stadium to cover the cost of stadium operations and life-cycle maintenance, which would be payable to a yet-to-be appointed stadium operator and a Brookfield-led consortium, while still returning “healthy” revenue to users.

Mr Travers challenged Treasury about why annual revenue and expenditure assumptions were not detailed in the recent Budget papers.